About us
An independent guide to solar for the third sector: how the 0% VAT relief works, which grants exist, and what a charity should ask an installer.
Solar Panels for Charities is an independent information service run by SEO Dons Ltd (company no. 16766013). It explains how UK charities and community buildings (village halls, community centres, sports clubs, scout huts, hospices, animal rescue centres and charity premises) can go solar without the usual barriers of cost and complexity. We are not an installer and we do not survey or install. If you send an enquiry through this site, we reply by email.
Why a charity-specific guide
Most solar companies are set up to sell to homeowners or to large commercial sites. Charities sit awkwardly in between: the buildings are non-domestic, but the budgets, governance and tax position are nothing like a business. A charity project lives or dies on three things a generalist installer may not know well: the 0% VAT relief, the patchwork of grants the third sector can access, and the way trustees actually make decisions. This site is organised around exactly those three things.
How it works
You read the guides on costs, grants and funding and your type of building. If you want to talk it through, you send the short form on the enquiry page and we reply by email. Any survey, design, installation, warranty and fixed-price quote comes from whichever installer you choose to hire. That installer, not this site, is responsible for them. We would rather you heard that solar is not right for your roof than were sold a system that will not deliver.
What to check on any installer
Whoever quotes, ask to see these and verify each one with the body that issues it:
- MCS certification, the standard required for Smart Export Guarantee income and most grant funding. Check at mcscertified.com
- Electrical competence, for example NICEIC or an equivalent scheme. Check at niceic.com
- Consumer code membership, for example RECC. Check at recc.org.uk
- TrustMark registration, the government-endorsed quality scheme. Check at trustmark.org.uk
- An insurance-backed warranty on workmanship, in writing
An honest note
This is a newer website, so you will not find testimonials or an install count here, and we do not publish case studies we cannot name. Where a page shows a figure, it is a typical range and the page says where it comes from. Corrections are welcome through the contact page.